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Saturday, 4 August 2012

I’m slowly becoming a one-blog-a-month kind of guy, of course it’s not something that I strive to be but I guess the label’s already stuck after ‘The Edible Garden’ magazine wrote: ‘Ryan might not be the most prolific blogger but …’. A case of the looking-glass-self I presume? In my defense, I do update my ‘image of the day’ every day (well most of the time anyway) and I just don’t have the time to sit quietly and write at the moment. I’ll have to make it a priority if I want to improve things around here.

With the never-ending monsoon and the lackluster vegetable performance at the allotment, I’ve been pretty much lost for things to write about. I could tell you about my senescent sweet peas, my blighted potatoes or my battered broad beans but I fear most of us are placed firmly in the camp of crap summers already. No, let’s maintain the stiff upper lip and casually move on. Surely as we are in the midst of the Olympic Games we can adopt some of the athletes grit and determination to succeed. Small victories and all that.

In the garden, all is not lost in the fight against weather, pests and time really. It’s close to being completely lost but I think I’ve managed to just about hang on in there. With that being said we did have a patch of very nice weather recently and for the few tough nuts of the vegetable world it worked wonders on lifting their spirits and helping them to put on a bit of late growth. The courgettes that sat and sulked for weeks after planting appeared to relish their time basking in the warm sunlight. With a new mulch of haylage, a left over from my horse, they seemed to be rather cosy and content. This is a new practice I adopted late last year and it seems to be working really well. The Sarpo Mira potatoes that I’m trialling for Thompson & Morgan also appear to be doing very well, despite being across the path from the rest of my blighted spuds.

Blueberries, which are rather abundant this year, have also ranked highly as one of my 2012 highlights thus far. I have two small bushes that are around 3-4 years old and although they aren’t cropping in bulk fruits continue to ripen on a daily basis allowing me a few delicious snacks whilst visiting the plot. A few have found their way in to the stomach of the ever-hungry pigeon, along with gooseberries, blackcurrants and raspberries but it’s a sacrifice I can live with. After all, something has to provide Mr & Mrs Fox with some food and I'd much rather their attention be on the large wood pigeons as opposed to them trying to work out how they can break in to the coop.

In chicken news, “Chick” continues to grow strong and is now 11 weeks old. I have an inkling, however, that it may be a male as several attempts to pick it up has resulted in it coming towards me as if to attack. Only time will tell and this could mean him either going to a new home or becoming lunch – I’m undecided yet.

The winner of the last Ryan’s Garden competition to win a £50 voucher from Creative Garden Ideas, is Claire Davies of ‘License to Kill Slugs’. Congratulations! Please email me: ryan@ryansgarden.co.uk to claim your prize.

7 comments:

I just harvested my french bean crop.... all four beans! On the plus side, I had a bumper crop of strawberries this year! Like you say, focus on the positive! And remember, when it comes to blogging, it's quality not quantity that counts, unlike french bean crops! : )

A four bean crop really is a reflection on our weather, isn't it?! I'd be much happier with Strawbs anyway ;) Only now am I getting any flowers on my runners as the first two crops were eaten. It's been a crazy year.

I have just one 3 year old blueberry bush and, so far this year, I've had over 3 lbs of fruit off it. Just think what it would have done if my 8 year old niece hadn't knocked a lot of the flowers off with a fishing net :-)